Milap Patel

Blog Posts

Learning from a “Living Laboratory”: 5 Lessons for the Green Climate Fund
by Giulia Christianson and Milap Patel - July 03, 2014
The CIFs—a pair of multilateral climate finance funds designed to help developing countries pilot low-carbon, climate-resilient development—have been called a “living laboratory” for climate finance. Because they are one of the largest international climate finance funds and have been in operation for six years, other emerging funds can learn from their experiences. In particular, the Green Climate Fund (GCF)—which is expected to become the main vehicle for securing and distributing global climate finance—can benefit from the lessons coming out of the CIFs experience. We provide a few takeaways that provide lessons for the GCF.
Q&A with Dr. Karin Kemper: How Is the World Bank Addressing Climate Change?
by Milap Patel - April 10, 2014
The World Bank consistently makes the link between poverty elimination and the need to curb climate change. Yet a WRI analysis shows that of the investments the World Bank financed between 2012 and 2013, only one-quarter addressed climate change risks.

Dr. Karin Kemper, director of climate policy and finance in the World Bank Group’s (WBG) Climate Group, shares the Bank's current and future plans to more fully incorporate climate change mitigation and adaptation into its international development agenda.
Injecting Urgency into the World Bank's Climate Change Efforts
by Manish Bapna and Milap Patel - April 02, 2014
Although the World Bank has successfully addressed a number of important economic and social risks in its projects, it is falling short in recognizing climate risks. As the World Bank refreshes its long-term strategies, this is a key moment to bring climate change—and more broadly, sustainability—to the forefront of its investment agenda.
The World Bank’s New Strategy: A Call for Equity and Sustainability
by Gaia Larsen and Milap Patel - October 11, 2013
Under the new leadership of Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank Group continues to reinvent itself to meet the challenges of global development. That reinvention will continue this Saturday, when the Board of Governors is expected to endorse a new strategy for the institution. If properly implemented across the Group, the strategy could help boost the institution’s contribution to equitable and sustainable development. Two areas of focus will be especially important, including how the Group handles its work on climate change and selects its investments.
President Obama’s Climate Action Plan: Can it Shift the World Away from Coal?
by Athena Ballesteros, Milap Patel and Gaia Larsen - July 01, 2013
While reactions to President Obama’s newly announced climate plan have focused on domestic action, the plan actually has potentially significant repercussions for the rest of the world. These repercussions will come in part through his commitment to limit U.S. investments in new coal-fired power plants overseas. If fully implemented, the plan will help ensure that the U.S. government channels its international investments away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy. The move sends a powerful signal—and hopefully, will inspire similar action by other global lenders.
Strengthening Ownership and Effectiveness of Climate Finance
by Louise Helen Brown and Milap Patel - May 16, 2013
The Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), one of the world’s largest dedicated funding facilities for climate change mitigation/adaptation projects, have now been in operation for five years. It’s a good time to step back and evaluate what lessons we’re learning from these important sources of climate finance.

WRI recently did just that, inviting a group of representatives from countries accessing CIFs funding to speak at our offices. It became clear from the discussions that while some valuable progress has been made, there is still plenty of room for improvement. In particular, lending institutions involved with the CIFs could deploy climate finance more effectively by fostering a stronger sense of country ownership over mitigation/adaptation projects.

The Good News: Climate Investment Funds Are Contributing to Change on the Ground

We’re starting to see some countries make progress on implementing climate change mitigation and adaptation projects with funds from CIFs programs (see text box). Panelists at the WRI event highlighted a few examples:
The End of Poverty? The World Bank and the Shared Prosperity Agenda
by Milap Patel and Roland Widmer - April 26, 2013
Within our lifetimes, the world could be free of widespread, extreme poverty, replaced instead with shared prosperity and environmental and fiscal balance. That was the vision World Bank President Jim Yong Kim outlined at his first Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. last week.

In a period of economic uncertainty, social exclusion, and climate and environmental crises, these goals hold immense promise. At the same time, for an institution already grappling with its redefined role in the coming decades, the Bank’s current capacity to support this vision will be tested.

The Common Vision for the World Bank Group that was approved by the World Bank’s Development Committee on April 20th includes two goals the Bank will work towards:

alleviating extreme poverty by dropping the percentage of people living on less than U.S.$ 1.25 a day to 3 percent by 2030, and

promoting shared prosperity by fostering income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population in every country

These two core goals are supplemented by the Bank’s understanding that they cannot be achieved without credible action to ensure environmental sustainability, especially on climate change.
What’s the Future of the Climate Investment Funds?
by Clifford Polycarp and Milap Patel - October 31, 2012
The committees governing the $7 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) – the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) – will meet in Istanbul this week. Alongside these meetings, a range of stakeholders from civil society, indigenous groups, and the private sector will participate in a series of events organized as part of the annual Partnership Forum, which takes place from November 4-7, 2012.

Decisions made at these meetings are critically important for the funding of climate mitigation and adaptation activities in developing nations. They’ll have important implications for meeting the immediate investment needs of developing countries, as well as for long-term global climate finance. The meetings will mark the start of discussions on how to sunset the CIFs and transition to a new global climate finance mechanism—the Green Climate Fund.

Making Big Ideas Happen™

Donate to WRI

Other Sites

Menu

Topics

You are here

Milap Patel

Learning from a “Living Laboratory”: 5 Lessons for the Green Climate Fund

Q&A with Dr. Karin Kemper: How Is the World Bank Addressing Climate Change?

Injecting Urgency into the World Bank's Climate Change Efforts

The World Bank’s New Strategy: A Call for Equity and Sustainability

President Obama’s Climate Action Plan: Can it Shift the World Away from Coal?

Strengthening Ownership and Effectiveness of Climate Finance

The Good News: Climate Investment Funds Are Contributing to Change on the Ground

The End of Poverty? The World Bank and the Shared Prosperity Agenda

What’s the Future of the Climate Investment Funds?

Designed for the Future?

Assessing Principles of Sustainable Development and Governance in the World Bank's Project Plans...

Stay Connected

Donate to WRI

Get Involved

Making Big Ideas Happen™

Donate to WRI

Other Sites

Menu

Topics

Search

You are here

The Good News: Climate Investment Funds Are Contributing to Change on the Ground

Assessing Principles of Sustainable Development and Governance in the World Bank's Project Plans...

Stay Connected

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS

Donate to WRI

Get Involved

Follow WRI